Rebecca Linder

Before Rebecca Linder became founder and CEO of a multimillion-dollar global events agency with Fortune 100 clients, she had a very different career path in mind: She was going to be an actor. “The acting…

Before Rebecca Linder became founder and CEO of a multimillion-dollar global events agency with Fortune 100 clients, she had a very different career path in mind: She was going to be an actor.

“The acting career was a real goal in my mind,” Linder says. “I was going to go to a graduate program for theater and for acting after college.”

But Linder decided to defer graduate school for a year and travel. After she returned to the States, she moved to D.C. and took on several part-time jobs, including one in theater production at Arena Stage.

“I realized I was equally creative as I was practical,” she says. “The acting and constant auditioning … no way I could do this for a living. But I really loved the production side of things.”

Linder already had a background in food service, having taken a job as director of operations with D.C.’s Windows Catering Co. working with clients including the Smithsonian Institution. By age 26, Linder realized she enjoyed the events business…